Have the DUP saved Academic Selection at 11?

In addition to Ulster Unionist Party concerns about the ESA Bill troubles on the education front abound.

The Democratic Unionist Party, the DUP seem to have reversed a position cited in the Times Educational Supplement recently on academic selection at 14.

According to a press release from Traditional Unionist Voice’s Jim Allister MEP the DUP provided a position paper to Sinn Fein on the subject of transfer at 14.

Mervyn Storey, Education Spokesman, recently told the Belfast Telegraph that the St. Andrew’s Agreement meant academic selection at 11

The BBC have picked up the story. No doubt more to follow.

More bad news from Conservatives on Grammar Schools

The Conservative Party reveal more of their antipathy towards grammar schools on this ConservativeHome blog site. Note particularly the personal attack tactics employed by the Conservative pseudo-MP for Tottenham Justin Hinchcliffe

Sir Reg Empey should take note during the courtship lest he have to admit that the UUP are anti-grammar now too.

 

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2008/11/let-councils-op.html#comments

A Gentle Reminder

The Guardian covered the Burns Report and Household Survey back in 2002.

Here are some comments from an article from Will Greenwood

Recognising that no assessment procedure is ever 100% satisfactory, Stevenson (former Sullivan head) believes that the 11-plus, “with adequate safeguards”, is a decent system.

“There are things wrong with the Northern Ireland education set-up which need to be considered, but I am not in the least convinced that the Burns report has all the answers. In fact, I am deeply concerned that we are doing away with some of the good things in the education system and not replacing them with anything worthwhile at all… at the moment we seems to be involved in a huge rush to end academic selection and destroy grammar schools.”

Arbuthnot (Priory in Holywood) went to grammar school, sent two of his children to a grammar school, and wants to see selection abolished. Stevenson failed his 11-plus and wants to retain it. Last week he was signed up to support the Daily Mirror’s “Save Our Grammar Schools” campaign, (where did that one go?) bringing in such unlikely Mirror writers as Chris Woodhead, the former chief inspector of schools in England.

“The transfer test is not a fool-proof system and it is not the end of the world if pupils fail it. But it can feel like the end of the world when it is over dramatised the way it has been by some people,” Stevenson told the Mirror.

But McGuinness is the 11-plus failure who matters most in all this, and he says the debate about the Burns report has been “tremendous”.

“I think the success of it lies in the fact that there was an expectation among many people previously that to have a debate on this issue would be highly acrimonious and contentious,” he told the Guardian. “I have to say I’m very pleased that we’ve had a very high quality debate that’s going to continue over the next number of weeks and months.

“We haven’t made our minds up, we haven’t made any decision whatsoever about how we’re moving forward because we want this to be a real consultation, a real opportunity for people to have their say and know that they’ve been listened to. Even on the initial responses I’m getting, people are saying to me, ‘this is one of the few times we’ve been asked our opinion on anything’… I wanted there to be a real sense within the community that we haven’t got our minds made up.”

Except that the final conclusion is bound to be that the 11-plus is scrapped, for the Sinn Fein number two is a long-standing, vocal opponent of it. “When I came into this job at the very beginning some of my old acquaintances said ‘don’t even think about doing anything about the 11-plus because it won’t work’, and here we are two years on and I haven’t heard anybody defending it,” he says.

Using or abusing the Pupil Profile :DENI style

So now that the entire post-primary system has been thrown into an “unregulated” chaos by the Minister for Education, Caitriona Ruane parents are left with uncertainty as to how make informed choices for school after year 7.

Years ago the DENI suggested:

 ”Each year, teachers will complete a Pupil Profile for each of their pupils, based on pupils’ work over the year – in a similar way as they do now with pupils’ annual reports. During the year, teachers will be able to use different assessment methods, including some computerbased tasks, to inform and support their professional judgement. These will include the key areas of literacy and numeracy. These assessment tasks can also help teachers to identify high and low levels of performance and to tailor their teaching to individual pupils’
needs.
• The Pupil Profile will not be used to select pupils for post-primary schools. The Education Order will prevent academic selection – in any form – after the 2008 Transfer Tests.

So now the fun begins.

Incompetent teachers beware

Perhaps the Northern Ireland General Teaching Council will be faced with similar cases given the imposition of the revised curriculum upon teachers.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7741247.stm

Gavin Boyd the ESA supremo gets it wrong again

The new revised curriculum was riven with support literature from CCEA supporting the idea of personalised learning. It seems that the progressives within CCEA have it entirely wrong – again.

Is there anything that CCEA have touched under the self certification ”leadership” of Gavin Boyd that has not ended in negative consequences for the Northern Ireland education system?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7741943.stm

11-Plus ends:PACE warning on Pupil Profile proves accurate.

 

 

 

 

 

 While UK-wide attention is directed to the final 11-plus exam today the elephant in the room is the vacuum deliberately created by the Department of Education. There is no certainty about a test for next year.

The DENI have tried for years to convince parents that a Pupil Profile will “inform” their choice for a post-primary school. However the publication of a report from CCEA suggests that their efforts have once again fallen short.

CCEA Final Evaluation Report on the implementation of the InCAS computer-based assessments and the Annual Pupil Profile Report in Primary Schools during the transitional year 2007/2008A 

 Although many parents recognised the work required by teachers to produce this new report there were a number of aspects they criticised. Large number of parents were dissatisfied with the format and content of their child’s Annual Pupil Profile Report.

Parents’ main criticism was that it did not contain grades/marks or a comparison with their child’s peers which they deemed to be an essential component of any school report.

Celebrations on the demise of the  11-plus are premature.  More to follow…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deja Vu from PAC on Primary Numeracy

The Westminster Public Accounts Committee have again raised concern over the fact that up to 25% of primary school pupils are ill-equipped for subjects (or should that be themes) such as science in secondary school.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20081119/tuk-uk-britain-maths-fa6b408.html

The consultation on the Northern Ireland Numeracy and Literacy Strategy concludes at the end of November.

Northern Ireland Assembly says Yes to 11-plus for at least 3 more years.

Basil McCrea of the Ulster Unionist Party has secured support for a motion to continue with the 11-plus for the next three years while a replacement is developed. He has called on the Education Minister, Caitriona Ruane, to adhere to the Ministerial Code and implement the wishes of the Assembly.

PACE would predict that Ruane will follow the behaviour of her predecessors and ignore entirely the convention, custom, practices of parliamentarians  and the law.

http://www.uup.org/newsrooms/ruane-must-listen-to-assembly.php

Robinson’s Promise

Bid to abolish academic selection will fail: Robinson

By William Graham and Michael McHugh in the Irish News 15/01/08

Any attempt to abolish academic selection will fail, finance minister Peter Robinson has warned.

http://www.irishnews.com/appnews/540/561/2008/1/15/577530_333540899901Bidtoabo.html

The fine print on the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive will have some detail on education matters. It is much more likely to agree the introduction of the ESA (Education and Skills Authority), another sop to the Sinn Fein agenda, than reveal necessary detail on the thorny issue of the 11-plus and academic selection.